Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a Syndication network comedy\drama series created & primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The show aired from September 18, 2006 to June 28, 2007, lasting for one season & 22 episodes. Plot The series took place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show (which is also called "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" or "Studio 60") on the fictional television network NBS (or the National Broadcasting System). Cast Main Cast *Bradley Whitford as Danny Tripp *Matthew Perry as Matt Albie *Amanda Peet as Jordan McDeere *Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes *Nate Corddry as Tom Jeter *D.L. Hughley as Simon Stiles *Steven Weber as Jack Rudolph *Timothy Busfield as Cal Shanley Recurring Cast *Ayda Field as Jeannie Whatley *Simon Helberg as Alex Dwyer *Nate Torrance as Dylan Killington *Camille Chen as Samantha Li *Evan Handler as Ricky Tahoe *Carlos Jacott as Ron Oswald *Edward Asner as Wilson White *Lucy Davis as Lucy Kenwright *Columbus Short as Darius Hawthorne *Mark McKinney as Andy Mackinaw *Merritt Weaver as Suzanne *Stephanie Childers as Hallie Galloway *Kari Matchett as Mary Tate *Wendy Phillips as Shelly Green Production Development "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was tentatively titled "Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip" during its development stage. The series prompted Syndication to engage in an intense bidding war for the rights to the show in October of 2005, with Syndication agreeing to a "near-record license fee" in order to obtain the rights. It was the show most anticipated by media buyers prior to the network upfront presentations, according to MediaLife. Among the online public the show was also highly anticipated, receiving the most online "mentions" and the most positive sentiment of any new 2006 show. Broadcast History On December 2, 2006, Syndication announced that "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" would be sharing the Monday at 10 p.m. timeslot with "The Black Donnellys"; as a result, "Studio 60" was on hiatus from December 4, 2006 to January 22, 2007. Then, it ran non-stop until February 26, 2007, when it was scheduled to take another hiatus. On February 13, 2007, Syndication announced that "Studio 60" would go on hiatus one week early, and that the last episode would air on February 19, 2007; this was at least partially due to the show's delivering its lowest ratings to date on the Monday preceding the announcement. During the hiatus on Syndication, "The Black Donnellys" premiered on February 26th; "Thank God You're Here" premiered on April 9th; "The Real Wedding Crashers" premiered on April 23rd after "Thank God You're Here" moved to Wednesdays, and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (which aired the last two episodes starting on May 14th) occupied the Monday 10:00 p.m. time period. On April 2, 2007, Syndication announced that "Studio 60" would not reclaim its Monday at 10 p.m. time slot at the conclusion of "The Black Donnellys" run and that "The Real Wedding Crashers" would occupy the timeslot from April 23, 2007, through the end of the TV season. However, on April 26, Syndication announced that the show would return from its hiatus on Thursday, May 24, at 10:00 p.m. On May 11, 2007, "Studio 60" was canceled during the Syndication upfront presentation. Critical Reception Television critics named "Studio 60" their "Best Overall New Program" in a poll conducted by Broadcasting and Cable, based on the pilot episode. In their 2006 year-end issue, the New York Daily News listed Studio 60 as number 6 on their best "Series of the Year" list, and it was also listed in best standout performances as number 9 for Matthew Perry. Glenn Garvin of the Miami Herald named the show as #2 on his list of best "Series of the Year." The show earned a collective rating of 75 out of 100 based on 33 reviews by TV critics and received 8.2 out of 10 from 276 votes by users on Metacritic. The pilot episode was seen by an average of 13.4 million total viewers in its initial airing on Syndication, although it experienced significant viewer falloff from the first half-hour to the second half-hour and the second episode's Nielsen ratings were down by 12% from the pilot. The erosion continued through episode 5, with a 43% viewer drop off from its premiere, but subsequently leveled off. On October 27, 2006, Syndication gave a conditional "vote of confidence" by ordering three additional scripts on top of the initial order of 13. Despite the order, "Studio 60" performed poorly in the ratings, which led to speculation that Syndication was seriously considering canceling the show. Roger Friedman of Fox News reported on October 30, 2006, that cancellation of the show was imminent; this was denied the next day by a Syndication representative who stated that the show "is profitable at this point" and that rather than a cancellation, it is more likely that the show's time slot will change. On November 9, 2006, Syndication announced that the show had been picked up for a full season, citing its favorable demographics as the reason. According to Syndication's press release: "Studio 60 has consistently delivered some of the highest audience concentrations among all primetime network series in such key upscale categories as adults 18–49 living in homes with $75,000-plus and $100,000-plus incomes and in homes where the head of household has four or more years of college." In its December 17, 2006, issue, Time listed the show as one of "5 Things That Went From Buzz to Bust", sharing the distinction with other "phenomena that captivated the media for a spell, then turned out to be less than huge." Entertainment Weekly named "Studio 60" the worst TV show of 2006. However, comedy writers at the time were largely disdainful of "Studio 60" with comments like "People in television, trust me, are not that smart", "Sorkin wants to get big ideas across and change people's minds. No comedians work that way. They go for the laughs first and the lesson second" and "Night Live is so dark, they could never show what actually happens there." Accolades On July 19, 2007, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced their nominations for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards and "Studio 60" was nominated in five categories. The pilot episode earned three nominations: "Outstanding Directing" (Thomas Schlamme), "Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-camera Series" and "Outstanding Casting in Dramatic Series". Both John Goodman and Eli Wallach were nominated "Outstanding Guest Actor in Dramatic Series". The show's Emmy nominations surpassed several other shows (such as "Friday Night Lights" and "Dexter") which got two and three nominations, respectively. It also tied with "CSI" and "24". Category:2000s television series Category:2006 Category:2007 Category:2006 debuts Category:2007 endings Category:Syndication